COODE
ISLAND COMMUNITY
CONSULTATIVE
COMMITTEE
Adopted
Minutes
Thursday,
10th April, 2008
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PRESENT |
|
|
Robin Saunders: CICCC / Chairperson |
Joan Thomas
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Michael Isaachsen: Community Rep./Committee |
Quentin Cooke: Environment. Protection |
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Deborah Macfarlane: Community Rep./Committee |
Carlo Fasolino State Manager Victoria, |
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Faye Simpson Community Member |
Peter La Rose Operations Manager |
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Bro Sheffield-Brotherton |
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ITEM 1. WELCOME
BY THE CHAIR, APOLOGIES & CONFIRMATION OF DRAFT AGENDA
Robin Welcomed
all in attendance.
Apologies
George Horman, Ian Thomas, Theo Pykoulas
Confirmation
of draft agenda – adopted
ITEM 2. CONFIRMATION
OF DRAFT MINUTES MEETING 7 February 2008, AND
REVIEW ACTION ITEM LIST.
DRAFT MINUTES
Robin: Draft
minutes of 7 February 2008 confirmed.
ACTION ITEMS
05/07-1 Carlo
met on-site with Quentin and Robin to review the IAR on 19 February 2008. The
agreed changes were word processed by Carlo, and the revised IAR (the version
headed Updated February 2008) was posted to the web site.
Several
further updates were made at the meeting, in particular responding to points
raised by Bro. The updated version will now be posted to the web site.
ACTION ITEM: Robin to update IAR, circulate and post to
web.
09/07-2 Incident
at DP World – Quentin reminded the meeting that he had made some comment on
this matter at the last meeting, and that EPA had nothing further to report at
this stage.
The
item will remain open, to be addressed more fully by EPA when circumstances
permit.
12/07-1 Acting
Inspector Russell Barrett responded via email on 4 April 2008 (email forwarded
that day to all CICCC members), advising in part that “the Region 1 emergency management response plan details that the
control agency for an incident in consultation with other support agencies is
responsible for ensuring appropriate and timely messages are disseminated to
the affected community. Additionally it provides that if the control agency is
not equipped, or is otherwise unable to issue public warnings, the assistance
of the Victoria Police Media Unit will assist.”
The
Committee requested the Chair to write to Acting Inspector Barrett an invite
him to the June meeting of the CICCC.
ACTION:
Robin to write to Acting Inspector Barrett inviting him to the June meeting of
the CICCC.
The Committee requested the Chair
to write to Colleen Hartland MLC and invite her to the June meeting of the
CICCC.
ACTION:
Robin to write to Colleen Hartland MLC inviting her to the June meeting of the
CICCC.
12/07-2 Report
on Tank 34 – completed.
12/07-3 Community
Newsletter Distribution – completed
12/08 -1 Robin to check latest version of EPA Licence is on CICCC Web Site
– completed
ITEM 3. REPORTS
FROM AGENCIES AND TERMINALS
ENVIRONMENT
PROTECTION AUTHORITY
Presented
by Quentin Cooke
Each
Accredited Licensee submits an Annual Report. Terminals has submitted its
Annual Report for the 2007 calendar year. EPA will now review the Terminals
Licence, as some chemicals which are no longer stored (i.e. Propylene Oxide)
are still allowed on the licence, whereas if they were to be reintroduced they
would require considerable engineering work by Terminals and careful
consideration by EPA.
ACTION ITEM: Robin to put the review of the EPA Licence on
the Agenda for June 2008.
ACTION ITEM: Carlo to prepare the 2007 Community Annual
Report which contains the 2007 Annual EPA Report, and finalise it prior to the
June 2008 meeting.
Terminals has recommended the
deletion of tests for heavy metals in the groundwater. Geoff Millard has
recommended stopping it, on the basis that the groundwater movement off-site is
so small that the heavy metal contamination of the river is negligible.
Quentin reminded the meeting that
over the river there has been concern about arsenic leaching from old fill
material, and investigation has indicated a particular risk to river
contamination.
The meeting agreed that a further
report from Terminals should be submitted on this matter, and advice sought
from PoMC (in particular Amber Dixon, their groundwater specialist) about
general testing for heavy metals undertaken by PoMC around Coode Island.
ACTION ITEM: Teminals to report on the level of heavy metal
contamination in the groundwater at its facility, and its potential affect on
river contamination.
ACTION ITEM: Robin to write to PoMC seeking advice on
testing that PoMC has undertaken for heavy metal content in groundwater at and
around Coode Island.
TERMINALS PTY LTD
Presented
by Peter La Rose
Peter presented the Monthly
Operations & Occurrence Report for February/March 2008. Peter drew
attention to the loading of the first truck from the new Plant B Bottom loading
gantry. Bottom loading removes the likelihood of operator injury while climbing
up to the top of the road tanker for the older top loading process. There are
now only six products remaining to be retro-fitted for bottom loading at the
truck filling station.
The issue of gas usage at the
combustor was again extensively canvassed. Carlo explained that turning off the
gas at night would only save approximately 20% of the total gas usage. As this
figure is about 3,000 tonnes (CO2 equivalent) in total, the
Committee thought that a 20% reduction was well worth achieving, if
practicable. Carlo had concerns that if the combustor pilot was turned off at
night, and the required reignition failed, a further problem would be caused.
Peter had concerns about the back-up use of the carbon beds, given the extensive
problems with the carbon beds in the past.
Joan reported that carbon beds
were used as a back-up at Marstel’s facility. The Committee drew attention to
a number of matters where action was outstanding, including the evaluation of
the effectiveness of targets from the 1st EIP, which were due in the 4th
Quarter of 2005.
Carlo stated that with the recent
resignation of Project Engineer Rory Quinn (who is returning to his favoured
field in pharmaceuticals), while operational matters were well under control,
resources to investigate aspirational and strategic issues were presently
inadequate. He stated that a suggestion made by the Chair, that the evaluation
review be delegated, had been acted on, and he has an engineering undergraduate
started on this task.
ITEM 4. REVIEW
IAR AND EPA SIGN OFF
Item reported above under Action
Item 05/07 – 1, and now up-to-date.
ITEM 5. FERTILISER
TANK PRESENTATION (TERMINALS)
Carlo presented some overheads
for this item. Four tanks have been removed, and three second hand tanks will
be installed and extensively upgraded. The product to be stored is a mixture of
urea, ammonia and water. This composition, with about 50% water, makes the
product useless as an explosive precursor, overcoming past problems resulting
from international terrorist use of Ammonium Nitrate. The tanks will hold 900,
900 and 2500 cubic metres respectively. Two shipments a year of product are
anticipated.
ITEM 6. NITROGEN
GENERATION AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS (TERMINALS)
Carlo presented some overheads
for this item. The new weighbridge near the Plant B Truck filling station has
been completed and is operational. While it cost $383,000 to build, it allows
an accurate inventory to be maintained, and cuts out the extra travel trucks
used to have to do to and from the Footscray Market Weighbridge.
The Nitrogen Generator has been
installed at a cost of $301,000. About 66% of the nitrogen used at the facility
will be generated by the new equipment. Extra nitrogen will have to be
purchased only when there are large demands during ship discharge. Whereas
previously there were 3 to 4 20 tonne trucks delivering nitrogen per week, now
only one truck per fortnight is anticipated, on average.
During heavy use, the nitrogen
generator cuts out (pressure incompatibility). Carlo advised the meeting that
this was an issue that he wished to address in the future, so that the
generator could continue to operate at full capacity all the time.
Carlo reported on the outcome of
the combustion in the combustors of certain suitable liquid wastes (generally
organic waste washing water). While the cost of the necessary pipework and
fittings was $220,000 there has been a saving of the cost of disposing of the
material at the Sydney liquid waste facility , the saving being both transport
costs and processing costs at the plant.
Carlo also reported on a security
camera upgrade at the facility, at a cost of $322,000. Now the camera output is
linked to movement detector alarms, and every report of movement is remotely
viewed off-site by a security firm. Where visual review shows any suspicious
circumstance, the security firm takes action, including alerting Terminals
staff. The annual cost of $180,000 per year for a security guard has been
saved, and the surveillance system is more reliable than before.
ITEM 7. DETAIL
OF TYPICAL CURRENT TANK< PIPE AND COMBUSTOR ARRANGEMENTS (TERMINALS)
Carlo presented a schematic plan
of the typical arrangement, and spoke to it. The equipment on the roof of the
typical tank includes a pressure transmitter connected to the nitrogen supply,
a dip adaptor (which allows manual dipping of the liquid level without allowing
product contact with the atmosphere), a vacuum vent in association with a
pressure vent, the latter connected to the combustor, and an emergency vent.
Systems for cooling water and foam injection complete the fit-out.
ITEM 8. OTHER
BUSINESS
All
other business had been covered in the discussion of the items above.
NEXT SCHEDULE MEETINGS:
Thursday,
12th June, 2008, 7th August, 2008 and 6th
November, 2008.
MEETING CLOSED 9:00 PM